Replacing floorboards

[ScottG13]

I am going to tile my mums bathroom floor in the near future. The tiles will not be a problem to pull up as they are so loose its scary. Had to laugh, I lifted one to look at the state of the floor to find the tile had a 'S' shaped squiggle on the bottom and looks like 'No more nails'!

Im am going to replace the floorboards entirely. My question is, shall I replace with ply, waterproof it then tile directly on top or will hardibacker be the way forward? It is a small area being tiled approx 2sm. Not sure what tiles she wants yet, would the substrate differ depending on what type of tile is being used?

[Rob Z]

Scott, unless I am going to do a mud bed, then I try to get as much plywood on the floor as possble, then cover it with a membrane of some sort. Hardi is a good product and would be OK, but plywood is of course stronger. A membrane, properly applied, will take care of any issues that might arise from bonding tile straight to plywood.

[diamondtiling]

While you have the floor up Scott you should add some strength to it with extra noggins. Even though its a small area these will give peace of mind regarding deflection.
Use 18mm ply, bond the underside and edges before fixing, hardi will give you a better surface for your tiles although it does not add strength. What adhesive will you be using?

[mikethetile]

diamond and rob beat me to it

good advice

whip any skirts off at the same time and leave a10mm gap around edge for movement/expansion

add plenty of noggins make em tight or they wont work

use 18mm ply and fix at 250mm centres

after tiling refix skirts and silicone joint

your aproaching this job the right way scott and i wish you every success

[ScottG13]

I will use a waterproof flexible adhesive. Not sure what one, any recommendations? I know to steer clear of the tubbed addy

[TheWrightTiler]

mapei kerraquik from tile giant

grey for dark coloured tiles white for light coloured tiles

[doug boardley]

..and of course, flexible grout. All good advice above

[hoglet]

Im am going to replace the floorboards entirely.

It may be the case that actually removing the boards could be problematic due to stud walls getting in the way. Depends on you room layout.

I wanted to remove all my floorboards but found that overboarding with 18mm ply was needed due to the difficulty of getting the boards up. I've often wondered how the pros get around the problem of getting all the boards up...

Best,

Hoglet.

[diamondtiling]

In small pieces if need be, you dont know what is under the floor so take your time. Once you have a piece up you can check for pipes/wires etc. As for the floor going under studwork well that wont matter as you are going to install extra noggins around the perimeter.